Of Late Nights and Surprises
by amandapoupou
Summary: James has been having to work late and sacrifice time with Lily. When he comes home not so late one night, what will he find?


James Potter was very frustrated. His work was beginning to pile up due to the many killings. It was currently 10:23 at night on a cold but dry wintry Friday. James wanted to go home. Home meant Lily, food, warmth, Lily, relaxing, and most importantly, Lily.

Lily Evelynn Potter was James's wife, whom he'd barely seen over the past few days. Of course, they slept together, but James came home late and left early. He missed her auburn hair and her bottle green eyes. Snapping his fingers, the candle that had lit his view snubbed out. He shoved away from his desk and grabbed his bag. Trudging to the Atrium, James thought of Lily and the small cottage they shared. With a loud crack, he apparated.

He appeared at the end of his street in an alleyway across the way. Walking out, he began to loosen as he thought of Lily. He hoped she'd still be awake. The raven-haired man could see his home, the third to last from the other end of the street. Almost every room in the cottage was lit, and he could see the outline of someone in the large window of the living room. James smiled.

As he reached their front door, he tapped it with his wand. Before James could open the door, it was flung open for him. His nineteen-year-old wife was pointing her wand at him, "What was I wearing the first night I spent the night in your room?"

James grinned and whispered, "Nothing." Then he conceded, "Except for my Quidditch shirt."

He liked the way Lily blushed and he liked it even more when she flung herself at him. "You're home early!"

"Lily-love, it's ten-thirty."

"I know! I thought you'd be home around one. You can eat dinner with me!" She sounded like a child on Christmas, and it broke his heart. When she turned around, he caught her arm. A worrisome thought troubled him and it twisted his stomach unpleasantly.

She looked at him and his face made her smile slide. "What's wrong, James?"

"Lily…" he sucked in a sharp breath, "…you know that I love you, right?"

She pouted slightly as she walked toward him and slid her arms around his neck. He wouldn't look at her. "James Potter, I know you love me. If you didn't love me, you wouldn't have asked me to marry you. And if I didn't love you , I wouldn't have said yes. If you didn't love me, you wouldn't talk about me in your sleep. I love you, James Potter, regardless of your work schedule. You've always wanted to be an auror, I'm not coming against that."

He locked eyes with her. "Lily, you come first, you're the love of my life, not my work. I'd give up that in a heartbeat if it meant I could always be with you. If…you ever think that I'm spending too much time at work or working for the Order or _anything_, I'll drop it. I swear to Merlin, Lily if I lose you because of something stupid like that, I'd never forgive myself."

"James, you're not going to lose me. I don't understand why you would think that," she looked a bit hurt and really confused.

"Lily have you ever looked around when we went out? Almost every guy looks at you in a way that makes me want to punch them, and I'm afraid that one day you'll wake up and realize how much better you are than me." He looked away again.

Then he felt Lily's lips on his, she let her body meld into his. One of her hands tangled themselves in his soft hair. James kicked the door closed, and picked Lily up. She latched onto him by wrapping her legs around him. "F**k, Lily," James panted.

"Mmm, sounds good," she moaned. That sent James over the edge and an hour later, the blanket on their bed was tangled in their skin. James had an arm protectively wrapped around her waist and she let her head rest on his chest.

"James?" Lily asked in a small voice.

"Yeah?"

"…."

He lifted his head up to look at her, concern breaking through his bliss. "Lily?"

"I'm hungry…" Lily whispered sheepishly. James laughed and lifted his arm to join the other behind his head. Lily made a small noise at the loss of contact.

"So go eat, I'm not stopping you." He sighed, relaxing into the bed even more.

"James…you're not going to leave are you?" she asked in a quiet voice, and she was staring at the floor.

James sat up so quickly he felt dizzy, but he ignored it. "Of course not!" and trying to make things lighter, he snorted lightly, "And besides, it'll take more than the minister to call me back to the ministry."

"No, James…I mean, are you going to _leave_? Like, if anything unexpected happens?" She looked up to meet his eyes. He leaned forward so his face was inches from hers.

"Like what? I would never leave you, Lily!"

"Like if somebody was threatening me against you. Like if something put you in danger, and all you had to do was 'drop' me to get rid of it, would you?"

"Love, if somebody was threatening you, I'd kick their a*s. I'd rather it was me in danger than you."

"Well, if someone was threatening you and putting me in danger? Would you leave then?" She looked slightly reassured.

James hesitated. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt because of me. I wouldn't blame you if you _wanted _me to leave."

"I'd never want you to go, James Potter. Now, are you going to come downstairs and let me cook you some dinner?"

"I don't know…" James said playfully, watching as she pulled on a loose, thin shirt that went to just below her hips. James propped himself up on his elbow and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Lily turned to face him as she put on tight short shorts.

"Nothing…it's just…I'm thinking."

"Ooh, a rare event indeed. What about?" She asked, smiling impishly at him. It made him grin wider and he crawled to the end of their bed and pulled her down.

"You. I was thinking we don't do enough things together. Maybe we should go out." He buried his face into her shoulder, memorizing her scent. "Would you like that?"

He slid down, giving attention to two sensitive parts on Lily's body, transforming her yes into a moan. James grinned, and pulled away, dropping himself onto the bed. "Okay then. Weren't you going to get yourself some food?"

Lily's jaw dropped and she narrowed her eyes. Still on her knees, she bit her lip, and sighed, "Oh, yeah. I was going to make some sausage. With peppers and onions. I was thinking about throwing some mushrooms into the mix, and maybe add some rice on the side. But, you know, I think I'll be too hot in this shirt."

She slowly rolled her shirt up and threw it on the floor by their bureau. Lily laughed at James's expression and rolled off the bed. She danced down the hallway, jumping to a stop at the end of it. Snatching the ingredients she had not already pulled out before James had come home, she began to make her dinner. Or early breakfast, depending how you looked at it.

James picked up Lily's discarded shirt and pulled on grey sweatpants. He laughed at the fabric for no real reason at all, just happiness. And suddenly he heard retching and then sniffling. Fear spread through him as he sprinted down the hallway to the bathroom. Just as he made it to the door, he heard someone's breath catch and then more heaving.

Lily was curled over the toilet, tears mixing with her sick. James dropped to the ground and pulled her hair out of the way. When she finished, James rubbed her back. "What's wrong? Why are you throwing up?"

Wiping her mouth, she sniffled, "I-I don't k-know, I was j-just making dinner and, and, I'm s-sorry-" Lily started crying and James started.

"Why? You have no reason to be sorry. You can't really control this kind of thing."

"James…I-I think…I think I might be p-pregnant." She choked out,looking at James. He froze, a million things racing through his mind. She was pregnant. He'd gotten her pregnant. He was going to start a family. She was _pregnant_. He felt a whopping joy in the pit of his stomach and he also felt proud. Until Lily's sob broke through his reverie.

His hands fluttered uselessly, "What? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

One of her hands was splayed across her abdomen and her hair was messy when she looked up at him, her watery eyes large. So beautiful. "You w-weren't saying any-anything and I thought you were u-upset that I'm…p-pregnant."

"NO, no, no. I'm not upset, not at all." He hugged her tight.

She exhaled, "Really?"

"Really." Then something occurred to him that's he'd been too distracted to notice at the time. "So, as for now's the time to answer questions…what exactly do I talk about in my sleep?"

Lily once again smiled impishly at him. "One time you said, 'Lily go! I have to save the monkeys'. Another time you rolled over and said, 'Please don't leave. I, God I love you. More than anything'. I just hope you were talking about me and not Sirius."

James laughed, the tips of his ears red, "Maybe I was talking about the monkeys."

Lily just laughed, slapping his arm playfully.


End file.
